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Day Three—LIfe From Death

When we hear stories about good things coming from tragedy, we get inspired. And we should be. But the tragedy seems like a burden and in some way we often do not want it to be that. But in the most basic fabric of life, we know that the world is always going on because of something is always passing on.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

A lot of people, even evolutionists, believe in Pangea. Pangea is the name of what was once a supercontinent before they split into the continents as we know them now. The waters were in the above verses gathered into one place, so would say a Pangea believer, everything is simplified because of two unified elements of the Earth and Seas. There is an emphasis here of unity with the land and continuity of the seed which God calls good on both counts. For God what once was “formless and void” has gained form and purpose. The values of unity and continuity are repetitive in the kingdom of God where we see the Trinity, the people who turn to Jesus, the Church that comes from Him and the apostolic tradition that unfolds from the mystery of the ultimate Seed.

So also do we have form and purpose because of a different third day: Easter Sunday. He is our ultimate promised land and we can receive Him not by an ocean but the waters of baptism that unites us in faith in context of a single kingdom.

But the goodness of God does not stop there. There is a pattern that is now laid down in the micro level in seeds dying in the ground only to produce much fruit. Likewise on a different third day, we have the firstborn of a new creation, Jesus, who used seed language about being like one that would go into the ground, die and produce much fruit.

So the third day is about unity,continuity and life coming from complete sacrifice which are both inconvenient truths. We like our individual spots and do not like to give unselfishly. Yet both parts of the same day point to that. It would be good to apply that for our lives whether it is about abandoning our prejudice, opening ourselves to life or rallying around whatever we know is God’s agenda at the time. The point that we can prayerfully consider is if we will be the seeds and fertile soil to live out the gospel that way. Yes, dying to self is a good thing. The third day is good because the standard has its beginning.